UN Panel Says Sacred Texts Embrace Homosexuality

By Wendy Wright

NEW YORK, April 12 (C-FAM) After considering several religions, Sid Thomas changed his name to Daayiee Abdullah and converted to Islam at 30. He adopted the title Imam after developing the group Muslim Gay Men to dispute that the Qur'an rejects homosexuality. Now he performs religious ceremonies including same-sex weddings and wants to start a mosque for homosexuals.

When asked how he can be Muslim and homosexual, he says Islamic prohibitions are based on myths. They were teaching tools, created to regulate society, that "supersede for humankind what the actual divine book says." Read More

Social Science Study Still Spooking Gay Advocates

By Austin Ruse

WASHINGTON DC, April 12 (C-FAM) Homosexual advocates seem obsessed by a social science study that goes against them. They say the research is unimportant but can�t stop talking about it.

A year ago Dr. Mark Regnerus of the University of Texas published a 15,000-person study showing that children do best in a household with their married mother and father. He further found that no other family structure works this well and by contrast often did worse. Read More

Editor in Chief – Austin Ruse
Managing Editor – Wendy Wright
Assistant Managing Editor – Lisa Correnti Correspondents – Susan Yoshihara, Ph.D., Stefano Gennarini, J.D., Rebecca Oas

Human Rights Council Shelves Families to "Protect" Children

By Stefano Gennarini, J.D.

GENEVA, April 5 (C-FAM) The Human Rights Council set aside a resolution to protect the family as member states focused instead on a controversial resolution which could expose children to early sexualization and abortion, and would undermine the rights of parents.

Western nations did their best to make sure a resolution on "protection of the family" was not adopted at the session of the Council that concluded March 22. The resolution builds on recent resolutions that recognize the family as the natural and fundamental group unit of society. Read More

Advocates Combat Abortion's "Stigma" With Stealth Training

By Rebecca Oas, Ph.D.

NEW YORK, April 5 (C-FAM) Frustrated by the persistence of shame attached to abortion, international abortion activists are employing stealth methods to recruit and train abortionists while scholars are attempting to stigmatize healthcare providers' right to object on grounds of conscience.

"Abortion stigma is affected both by legislative initiatives that establish fetal personhood and gestational age limits and by discourses that influence cultural values," write Dr. Allison Norris and her colleagues in a Women's Health Issues article. "By constructing the fetus as a person and abortion as murder, anti-abortion forces argue that women or providers - or both - should be seen as murderers." Read More

Editor in Chief – Austin Ruse
Managing Editor – Wendy Wright
Assistant Managing Editor – Lisa Correnti Correspondents – Susan Yoshihara, Ph.D., Stefano Gennarini, J.D., Rebecca Oas

International Lawyers Claim Malta's Protection of Unborn is "Torture"

By Stefano Gennarini, J.D.

NEW YORK, March 29 (C-FAM) The tiny island nation of Malta has been singled out as a human right abuser by legal experts in Europe in preparation for its next review by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Malta's unforgivable offense is protecting human life in the womb.

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), a human rights organization composed of lawyers and jurists, submitted a report to the Human Rights Council accusing Malta of unnecessarily endangering women's lives with laws that protect human life. The legal basis for these claims is highly contested. Read More

Foreign Law Invoked in Supreme Court Consideration of Same-Sex Marriage

By Austin Ruse

WASHINGTON DC, March 29 (C-FAM) Oral arguments were heard this week in the U.S. Supreme Court on the matter of homosexual marriage. A few dozen very interesting friend of the court briefs have been submitted by both sides of the question.

An ongoing debate in the United States is whether the Court should take into consideration the legal practices and opinions of foreign courts and international bodies. In recent years the Supreme Court has cited foreign courts and new norms, particularly in the Lawrence v. Texas decision that Constitutionlized homosexual sodomy, and also the in the Roper v. Simmons decision that overturned the "juvenile" death penalty. Read More

Editor in Chief – Austin Ruse
Managing Editor – Wendy Wright
Assistant Managing Editor – Lisa Correnti Correspondents – Susan Yoshihara, Ph.D., Stefano Gennarini, J.D., Rebecca Oas

Abortion Advocates Handcuffed By Previous Agreement

By Stefano Gennarini, J.D.

NEW YORK, March 22 (C-FAM) Pro-life and pro-abortion representatives, pressed against the glass outside a room where UN member states were negotiating a set of policies to end violence against women last week at UN headquarters. After months of lobbying, they anxiously awaited a result.

Failure to deliver agreed conclusions was never an option at this year's UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). But the two week session was fraught with worries about negotiations collapsing, as happened in 2003 when violence against women was last taken up by the UN commission, or last year, when bullying by the US delegation derailed consensus. But the fears never materialized. By Friday afternoon only seven paragraphs remained to be decided, and agreed conclusions were adopted Friday evening. Read More

March for Marriage Set for Next Week in Washington DC

By Austin Ruse

WASHINGTON DC, March 22 (C-FAM) Much of the world looks to the United States for guidance on issues of social policy. The fact of abortion on demand in the U.S. has been a powerful example that other countries have continued to follow.

Marriage is the latest battleground social issue in the U.S. and in many parts of the world. So, all eyes not just in the U.S. but globally are turned to the U.S. Supreme Court on March 26 when oral arguments are heard in Washington DC. Read More

Editor in Chief – Austin Ruse
Managing Editor – Wendy Wright
Assistant Managing Editor – Lisa Correnti Correspondents – Susan Yoshihara, Ph.D., Stefano Gennarini, J.D., Rebecca Oas

Negotiators Stymied at UN over Abortion Language

By Stefano Gennarini, J.D.

NEW YORK, March 15 (C-FAM) A last ditch effort by ambassadors and top UN officials failed last night to reach agreement on policies to end violence against women because powerful western developed countries want to scrap previous agreements that do not recognize abortion as a right.

After four weeks of intense negotiations, ambassadors were brought in to negotiate the late night session. The United States and European countries raised the stakes at this year's Commission on the Status of Women, a UN body of 45 UN member states that formulates policies for women, making agreement more elusive. Read More

Analysis: UN Conference Using Deceptive Data to Shape Policy

By Rebecca Oas, Ph.D.

NEW YORK, March 15 (C-FAM) As negotiations intensified during the 57th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), one sobering statistic on violence against women was repeated in conference rooms and media reports. Oftentimes it was used as a basis to promote abortion. Yet it is a disingenuous misrepresentation of the facts. Its author, an abortion advocate, sits on the U.S. delegation to CSW.

The Agence France-Press reported on March 5, the second day of the Commission, "Much has been made at [CSW] of a World Bank report which estimates that more women aged 15-44 are killed violently than die of malaria, HIV, cancer, accidents and war combined." The statistic is used by multiple UN agencies and appears on the official UN resources for speakers. Read More

Editor in Chief – Austin Ruse
Managing Editor – Wendy Wright
Assistant Managing Editor – Lisa Correnti Correspondents – Susan Yoshihara, Ph.D., Stefano Gennarini, J.D., Rebecca Oas